Legislative amendments aimed at making it easier for foreign specialists to come to work and live in Estonia are about to take force on Jan. 1, 2016.

“The amendments to the Aliens Act taking effect from the new year are a follow-on to the amendments made two years ago whose aim was to favor highly skilled people taking up residence in Estonia,” Interior Minister Hanno Pevkur said in a press release. “The amendments ease formalities for foreigners coming to work or study in Estonia and afford them better conditions for self-realization,” the minister said.

From January next year, a foreigner who has come to work in Estonia can work for multiple employers simultaneously provided that the conditions set out in the residence permit issued for employment are observed. For taking up employment with another employer permission from the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, payment of remuneration in the amount set out by the law and informing will no longer be required.

The permission of the Unemployment Insurance Fund necessary for applying for a residence permit for employment will no longer be personal, meaning that the Unemployment Insurance Fund may authorize an employer to fill one or several jobs with foreigners if no workforce with corresponding skills and qualifications can be found in Estonia. Besides the possibility will be created for foreigners staying in Estonia for a short term and foreigners staying in Estonia under a fixed-term residence permit to work in Estonia as a temporary agency worker.

To provide foreigners with more flexible conditions for continuing to live in Estonia, a 90-day transition period from the date of expiry of the residence permit will be introduced. The length of the transition period for students who have graduated from an Estonian university and for foreign researchers and university teachers is 183 days. During the transition period the person can apply for a new residence permit on different grounds, such as for enterprise, employment or study, without having to leave Estonia.

The amendments would create a new category of residence permit — residence permit for taking up permanent residence in Estonia. The latter can be issued to foreigners well adapted in Estonia for up to five years at a time to create better conditions for their remaining in Estonia for employment, study or enterprise.

Altogether 23,787 foreigners have a fixed-term Estonian residence permit at this point. The biggest numbers of applications for such permits this year have been filed by citizens of Ukraine and Russia, followed by people of unspecified citizenship and U.S. citizens.

Under current rules, an employer who wishes to hire a foreigner not having an Estonian residence permit must obtain permission from the Unemployment Insurance Fund and pay the foreigner at least 1.24 times the Estonian national average wage.